Annual reports

Annual Report and Accounts 1 April 2013–31 March 2014

The Commission's Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14 were laid before Parliament on 16 July 2014.

Foreword

Fairness, dignity and respect are values we all share. At the Equality and Human Rights Commission we work to promote and enforce the laws that protect those values, and help to ensure that equality and human rights are a reality for everyone.

Our Annual Report and Accounts 2013/14 sets out the work we have delivered to support those aims over the past year – my first full year as Chair of the Commission. It details how we delivered the work programme set out in our corporate plan 2013/14, within the framework of the strategic priorities we set out in our 2012–15 strategic plan. It describes the progress that we have made as an organisation towards making and keeping Britain a fairer society in which everyone, regardless of background, has an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential.

I am pleased to report that during the year the Commission continued to improve the way it delivers its statutory functions under the Equality Act 2006, reflecting its role as a European National Equality Body and as an ‘A status’ United Nations National Human Rights Institution.

Through our research and inquiries, our strategic legal programme, our work with the private and public sectors, our briefings on new legislation and reforms, and our reporting to international bodies on how the UK is meeting its obligations, we ensured that Parliament, the UN and other bodies could have increasing confidence in the Commission as a source of expert and authoritative advice, guidance and evidence on equality and human rights.

In delivering these achievements, the Commission relies on the continuing hard work of its staff; on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank them all for their efforts over the past year.

Equality and human rights are for everyone and, while we should be proud of the real progress Britain has already made towards becoming a fairer and more inclusive society, we must also continue to recognise and challenge persisting unfairness, intolerance and injustice.

Our business plan 2014/15 sets out how we will do this over the year ahead, working with a range of organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors. This year, we will also begin work on our next periodic review of progress on equality and human rights in Britain, which will form the evidence base on which we will build our future strategic direction.